The Perfect Skin
The merchant's shout snapped the workers out of their daze, and they began hauling the rabbit carcasses away.
"Hey, you alright?"
With the load finally off my back, control returned to my limbs. Blood flowed properly again, and a surge of vitality filled me.
"……Phew. Yeah. How do the rabbits look?"
In my rush, I'd struck a deal with the first caravan I came across. Still, if they lowballed me, I'd simply move on to the next merchant.
"Deputy leader! These haven't even been bled yet!"
Bleeding an animal right after the kill was standard procedure. It cut the carcass weight and was essential for proper hide harvesting. Unfortunately, I lacked the specialized tools—no dagger, nothing. Rabbit hides were thin and tore easily, demanding delicate work. So I'd gone for speed and a logical excuse instead.
"It's been less than an hour since I caught them. Damaging the carcasses halfway would be worse than letting professionals handle them with proper equipment."
The caravan wagons weren't the only things here. A makeshift tannery had been set up, fully equipped for processing. There was even a simple salting and smoking station. These merchants bought raw materials cheap from the eastern forest and processed them on the spot.
"Hmm. Hold on a moment. You've brought quite a few in surprisingly good condition."
The deputy leader's eyes narrowed as he began appraising the goods with sharp attention.
"……Not a single wound on these rabbits?"
"I knocked them out and snapped their necks."
"Even with a broken neck, there should still be marks."
"It just turned out that way. A technique for killing cleanly without leaving traces."
I took some pride in my hides. In the previous game's brutal world, animal skins had been the most practical resource, and top-quality pelts fetched the highest prices.
"Oh! My word! To think this was even possible!"
The deputy leader kept flipping rabbits over, voicing his admiration again and again. A few hides might suffer minor damage under close inspection, but with so many carcasses, it hardly mattered.
"You'll take them all, right?"
Just how much were quality rabbit hides worth here? If a caravan bothered to station itself permanently, these pelts clearly held far more value than their real-world counterparts.
"Of course! May I skin one first?"
Verification was still required. I followed the workers without complaint. One of them bled a carcass, slit the belly, and began peeling the hide away, working carefully along the grain of the fur. The technique was rough but serviceable.
'By the book.'
Next came scraping the fat and membrane from the inner side of the hide with a half-moon knife. Swish. Swish. Decent work, but far too slow. Processing every rabbit I'd brought would take an entire day at this pace.
"Deputy leader."
"Yes?"
"Mind if I handle the skinning? At this rate the value of my catch is going to drop."
Freshness was the real issue. Magic or shamanic preservation might exist, but this caravan clearly didn't have it.
"You know how to work hides as well as hunt?"
"I do."
The previous game had demanded every scrap of miscellaneous knowledge just to survive long-term. The flip side was that real-world skills transferred perfectly, which had been half the fun. Tanning was one of the crafts I'd taught myself.
"Hand me the knife. And one rabbit."
The worker shot the deputy leader a wounded look, but the deputy leader simply nodded with a grave expression.
Swish. My cuts followed the same sequence, only faster and cleaner. I'd learned animal dismantling while constantly fleeing monsters; survival had meant maximizing both meat yield and hide quality.
Swish swish.
"……A foreigner with this level of skill."
The membrane came away cleanly. The next steps—salting, drying—depended on the tanner, so I left them to the caravan. Those processes took days anyway.
"Here. Next rabbit, please."
"Ah, yes!"
All I needed to do was the preliminary work. With the hides stabilized, the price would hold.
Swish.
"Ooh……"
A crowd had gathered. Earning recognition through pure skill rather than game mechanics felt surprisingly good. My long-buried self-esteem stirred. Still, I had no desire to become famous.
Swish swish.
If I were aiming for a crafting profession it might be different, but most regions in this game remained unexplored even years after launch. Staying in one beginner area forever? That I couldn't accept.
Swish!
"Ooooooh!"
I picked up the pace. If they were going to watch this closely, they'd pay accordingly.
'At least two silver.'
Thirty minutes of work for two silver. One silver traded for roughly fifteen thousand won, so the math worked. Add the rabbit value and I could push for three silver total.
Swish! Swish!
Just like with the scarecrows, the old instincts returned.
'Hm? This feeling……'
A rush of elation similar to leveling up surged through me. At the same moment, a message appeared before my eyes.
The message revealed a hidden achievement tied directly to a hidden class. Information like this was worth real money.
—Seo-jun. Thanks to you I got the hidden class clue. The job name looks serious. I could probably sell this clue for at least five thousand, but I'm thinking of keeping it for myself. I'll explain the situation, so can you give me a bit more advice?
In the end, Sung-chul had succeeded in the class change and joined Seogwang Guild, one of the top four in the country. He'd been ecstatic about the class performance back then, but I'd known even then that selling that information would have been a mistake. The profit from monopolizing it far outweighed any one-time sale.
'This case feels a little different, though.'
The name "Torture Technician" didn't appeal. Besides, the clue had come from skinning animals, and plenty of other people could probably achieve thirty perfect pelts in a row. The part about rumors spreading through the kingdom was also problematic.
From the moment I obtained the Eternal stat, I'd planned my route around beginner villages in multiple kingdoms. Getting tied to any single kingdom was the last thing I wanted. This character grew stronger the farther it traveled.
'I should sell this one. Since I'm the first.'
Just how valuable was this hidden class? To drive the price up, I'd share the link to the video I'd watched hundreds of times while self-studying.
"Here you go."
First, I needed to leave. If word spread through the kingdom, I risked being dragged off and forced into the Torture Technician class.
"Deputy leader. Please set the price."
"……"
"Deputy leader?"
"……Ah? My apologies. I truly witnessed an extraordinary technique. Might I ask your name?"
This was nothing like my meeting with Bella at the eastern gate. Once I'd decided to sell the clue, any information about me becoming public would only work against me.
"I have my reasons for staying anonymous. I'd like to finish the transaction quickly, if possible."
"I see. Valuing the technique is difficult even for me, but since you're in a hurry, here's what we'll do."
The deputy leader held out a single gold coin.
"You don't have to accept right away. If you'll grant me a private meeting, this gold is yours."
It was a gold coin—worth about 1.5 million won in cash. Far more than dozens of rabbit hides could ever fetch. He clearly placed enormous value on speaking with me alone.
"My introduction is late. I'm Silverpen, deputy leader of the Russell Caravan. We're known for being friendly to foreigners. I believe we can strike a mutually beneficial deal."
Just when I needed to leave quickly, another opportunity appeared. A private meeting with a caravan deputy leader carried considerable weight.
"This is the only caravan I've dealt with so far. I should look into others first. The gold coin is too much."
Regrettable, but I'd refuse the gold and proceed carefully. The hidden class clue alone was already a massive windfall.
"Instead, I'd like to purchase a sturdy backpack and other exploration gear. You can compensate me with equipment equal to the value of the rabbits I sold."
"Then we'll calculate only the labor and goods. Thirty minutes of master-level tanning labor and demonstration comes to twenty silver, and the rabbit carcasses at top quality are ten copper each, totaling three silver and forty copper. Does that sound fair?"
Twenty-three silver and forty copper in total—roughly 345,000 won in cash. An absurdly generous sum for simple manual labor.
"……If this is insufficient—"
"It's plenty."
More than enough. Overly generous, even. This explained why illegal residents clustered around beginner hunting grounds with workshops. With a professional driver, hunting efficiency would skyrocket.
"I'll use that money to buy exploration supplies."
"Of course. I'll have everything prepared immediately."
At the deputy leader's command, the merchants moved in a flurry. What I received was:
"Backpack, torch, tinder, water flask, rope, leather blanket, oil, waterproof tarp, emergency medicine, multi-purpose dagger, three days' worth of dried rations, and insect-repellent herbs. Is there anything else you need?"
The deputy leader had prepared everything with meticulous care.
"This is sufficient."
"Excellent. I'll pack it all into the backpack. Your change is in the front pocket—please check it."
He'd handled everything well. If I ran short on funds later, I could always hunt more rabbits. With a proper backpack now, I could carry far more.
"Thank you. I'll be going, then."
"Thank you for your patronage! Please remember Silverpen of the Russell Caravan!"
I left quickly. Too many people had gathered. With proper exploration gear in hand, it was time to head deep into the eastern forest and find the golden fox.